Lock nut



I May 9, 1944. l. Rlc'zHARbsoN LOCK NUT INYE NTOR I [IQ/any Kzc/zzzrdson 04 ATTOR Filed April '7, 1943 BY v mm NEYS 43- 19 7 .UNITED' STATES PATENT- OFFICE LOCK NUT Irving Richardson, Newark, N. J. Application April 7, 1943, Serial No. 482,076

4 Claims.

The present invention relates to lock'nuts of the type in which a yielding washer made a unitary part of the nut assembly serves to take up looseness or vibration in use.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide a nut of the above type of simple and durable construction, which may be fabricated expeditiously and at small expense, and in which the application upon a. bolt occurs without the likelihood of severing or loosening the washer from the body of the nut, so that the washer takes a sharp thread impression of the bolt and the nut is thoroughly satisfactory in use.

In the accompanying drawing in which is shown one of various possible embodiments of the several features of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the nut body of my invention,

Fig. 2 is a view in taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the washer,

Fig. 4 is a view in longitudinal cross-section I showing the completely fabricated or assembled lock nut, and Fig. 5 is a view in longitudinal cross-section showing the lock nut as applied in use.

, of the socket is desirably inscribed into the regular hexagonal contour of the nut body, so that the sides of the hexagonal body extend substantially tangentially of the projected socket. Oblique shoulders l3 connect the outer wall of the cylindrical socket with the vertexareas of the hexagonal nut. The cylindrical wall of the socket I2 is desirably relatively thin to afiord a relatively large inner diameter of socket.

The floor M of the socket is desirably flat, that is, in a plane at right angles to the axis of the nut. Said floor is constructed to afiord adequate anchorage for the yielding washer to be lodged in the socket. Desirably the anchorage or keying longitudinal cross-section II from the tapped bore I l to near the inner wall of the socket i2. While the crown may have any desired number of teeth, an illustrative practical construction shown has thirty such uniform and equally, spaced teeth. At the tapped bore I l, the inner extremities of the radiating teeth It making up the toothed crownare at the outer or structure comprises a multiplicity of teeth unitary with the socket floor and extendingtransversely of the periphery thereof. Preferably the structure comprises a concentric ribbed crown 15 made up of identical equally spaced radiating teeth l6 impressed preferably by a die into the floor of the socket. Each tooth of the crown extends substantially the entire width of the annular floor crest diameter of the thread, as shown. The floor desirably has a narrow peripheral groove l1 sunk therebelow, the outer wall l8 of which is a continuation of the inner socket wall, and the inner wall of which is parallel thereto. This groove serves to assure clean sharp outer extremities to said various radiating teeth It.

The washer I8 employed according to the present invention may be of any material suitable for the purpose, but is preferably a unitary flatfaced annulus of vulcanized fiber of the type commonly employed, for lock nuts. The fiber washer is of outer diameter to fit freely within the socket l2 and of thickness several times the pitch of the thread ll tapped into the nut body. The bore IQ of the washer is desirably slightly smaller in diameter as shown in Fig. 4, than the inner or root diameter of the tapped bore II.

The assembly of the nut is desirably completed in a single press operation in which the bevelled rim 2!! of the socket is forced inward against the outer face of the washer l8, to compress the latter, and cause its'inner or bottom face to take the impression of the entire crown. ii of the socket floor. Thus, as shown in Fig. 4, the entire body of each of the teeth iii of the crown is forced into the face of the washer, which embeds not only the lateral oblique tooth walls 16' but the inner and outer extremities "of the widths of the teeth, as shown. In this press operation, the washer also expands into and fills the peripheral groove H in the floor of the nut. Ifv a completed lock nut of the present invention is taken apart, the inner face of the fiber washer will be found permanently to bear the full impression of the crown teeth and peripheral groove, The area of contact between socket floor and washer is thus well over twice the plan area of the floor, affording frictional engagement so effective as to render difllcult the operation of prying the washer loose. The multiplicity of inward punch thrust, the inturned edge 20 of the socket. effects compression of the washer chiefly near the outer periphery thereof, to cause near its inner periphery, the cylindrical bore" l9 of which remains straight. 1

While it is preferred to assemble the lock nut in a single operation by exerting the crown embedding pressure through, while turning inward the rim 20 of the socket, it will be understood that the washer could be pressed into place by a first operation, which for added security might be followed by a second operation, by which the rim of the socket would then be turned inward over the washer.

In Fig. is illustratively shown a conventional use of the lock nut-for pressing two plates and 26 together between the clamping face 21 of the nut and the head 28 of the bolt 28 threaded therethrough. The bolt readily impresses its thread into the cylindrical bore IQ of the washer, as shown at 30. The washer I8 is so securely keyed within the body of the nut by the toothed crown I5 that there is no danger of its coming loose from the socket under the stress of screwing the nut in place. The rotating stress upon the washer as the thread of the bolt forces its way thereinto, is adequately resisted by the keying action of the embedded crown IS. The material displaced by the threaded impression is forced outwardly as a welt 3| that spreads over the thin edge 32 of the intumed rim 20. The nut may readily be removed from the bolt and reused.

As many changes could be made in the above article and method, and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope of the claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompa'nying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A lock nutcomprising a tapped body having a coaxial cylindrical socket with a fiat floor, keying means rising from said fioor, and distributed over substantially the effective area thereof, a unitary yielding washer preassembled in said socket with said keying means embedded therein, the rim of said socket overlapping said washer.

2. A lock nut comprising a body having a cylindrioal socket with a fiat floor, a plurality of teeth rising from said floor and extending transversely of its circumference, a unitary flexible annular washer .preassembled in said socket havme said teeth embedded in the under face thereof;-'the rim or said socket extending inward and overlapping the outer rim of the exposed face of said washer.

3. A look nut comprising a tapped body having a coaxial cylindrical socket with a flat annular floor, a multiplicity of keying projections unitary with, extending transversely of the circumference of, rising from said fiat floor and spaced slightly from the lateral wall of said socket, a yielding annular washer preassembled in said socket embedding and encompassing said keying projec- 'tions, the rim of said socket overlapping the outer part of the exposed. face of said washer.

4. A lock nut comprising a tapped body having a coaxial cylindrical socket with a fiat annular floor, a peripheral groove about said floor and sunk therebelow, a multiplicity of teeth unitary with said floor, and rising therefrom, the thickness of each of said teeth extending radially outward from the inner periphery of said annular bottom to said peripheral grove, a fiber washer preassembled.in said socket, snugly embedding and encompassing all of said teeth and filling said groove, the rim of said socket overlapping the outer part of the exposed face of said washer.

IRVING RICHARDSON. 

